How does common ownership affect double patenting rejections?
Common ownership plays a significant role in double patenting rejections:
- Double patenting can occur between applications/patents with the same inventive entity, at least one common inventor, or common ownership
- Common ownership can be used to disqualify a reference as prior art under certain conditions
- For nonstatutory double patenting, a terminal disclaimer requires common ownership of the application and reference patent/application
As stated in MPEP 804: “Some commonality of inventorship or (deemed) ownership must exist between two or more patents or applications before consideration can be given to the issue of double patenting.”
Additionally, for AIA applications: “Subject matter in a commonly assigned/owned patent or application may be excepted as prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). See 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C).”
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